Palm Pre to Receive Flash Support in 2009

Adobe Flash 10 will be integrated into the Palm Pre's browser sometime in 2009, the company said Monday. Adobe also inaugurated a $10 million fund for Flash application development and showed a new Adobe Reader Mobile SDK which will bring advanced PDF functionality to both e-book readers and phones.

BARCELONAAdobe Flash 10 will be integrated into the Palm Pre's browser sometime in 2009, the company said Monday. Adobe also inaugurated a $10 million fund for Flash application development and showed a new Adobe Reader Mobile SDK which will bring advanced PDF functionality to both e-book readers and phones.

But as various partners and platforms jump onto the Flash and PDF bandwagons, some industry leaders are still being left out. Flash 10, which will support all desktop Flash sites and applications, will be available for Windows Mobile, Symbian Series 60, Android and Palm's new WebOS, Muraka said. But the popular RIM BlackBerry and Apple iPhone platforms stayed off the list, though Adobe chief executive Shantanu Narayen said two weeks ago that Adobe was "collaborating" with Apple.

"The smart phone Flash Player 10 release is targeted for desktop compatibility," said Anup Murarka, director of technical marketing for Mobile and Devices at Adobe.

The Palm Flash application probably won't be programmed though the Pre's standard Mojo API, Muraka said. Palm has asked Pre developers to write most apps in amped-up JavaScript and CSS, which don't reach down to the lowest levels of the system.

"Palm is doing the work themselves with help from us, to make it happen as quickly as possible," Muraka said.

Flash Player 10 for Mobile will be integrated into devices early next year, Muraka said, though it may come to some individual phones (such as the Pre) sooner. We'll have a hands-on story about Flash on the Palm Pre tomorrow.

The new Adobe Reader Mobile offers re-flowable PDFs that let you read a PDF in an ideal layout both on your desktop and a mobile device. It also lets content creators attach DRM to their files to prevent unauthorized distribution, and reads files in the popular EPUB e-book format. It will be available on smart phones and e-readers such as the Sony Reader, but Amazon's Kindle 2 isn't on Adobe's list.

"There's no Amazon ... but we're not saying never," Muraka said.

For smart phone users, the new Reader will replace the existing Adobe Reader LE, Muraka said.

Along with the new Flash 10 player and document reader, Adobe announced a new player for Flash Lite 3.1 that lets developers create executable files that don't require Flash Lite to previously exist on the device. The new "distributable player" for Symbian Series 60 and Windows Mobile is designed to help push forward the development of Flash apps for mobile devices, which hasn't gone as quickly as Adobe would like, Muraka said.

Flash Lite is currently baked into many Verizon Wireless phones, but it's only used for some home-screen user interface effects.

"The use case for most devices seems to have fallen into the skinning and theming area, and it's not as rich and diverse as we'd like," Muraka said.

The distributable player will turn Flash apps into discrete programs that could be downloaded on their own or sold through existing app stores, he said.

Adobe's $10 million development fund, meanwhile, isn't a VC fund like the BlackBerry Partners Fund or the Apple iFund. Neither is it an app competition or prize, Muraka said. Rather, Flash developers will apply for grants for specific development or marketing tasks. Nokia is contributing to the fund, so they're "interested in seeing apps and services that are showcased well on their devices," Muraka said.

For Adobe's part, "we are going to be looking for multi-screen projects, not just mobile, but including a desktop or a TV experience as well," Muraka said.

Adobe will try to get other members of their Open Screen Project trade group to contribute to the fund, bringing in money well beyond the initial $10 million. If the details sound a little fuzzy for now, that's because Adobe is basically testing the waters to see whether developers are interested. More details will come out in the next few months, Muraka said.

About the Author

PCMag.com's lead mobile analyst, Sascha Segan, has reviewed hundreds of smartphones, tablets and other gadgets in more than 13 years with PCMag. He's the head of our Fastest Mobile Networks project, hosts our One Cool Thing daily Web show, and writes opinions on tech and society.
Segan is also a multiple award-winning travel writer. Other than ... See Full Bio

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